


The Sweet Smell of Air

by orphan_account



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-03
Updated: 2011-01-03
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:06:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything they know about us couldn't be more wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sweet Smell of Air

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mishy_p](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mishy_p/gifts).



(BOSTON) - Ren Mihashi has gotten better at dealing with the press, but not by much. In an environment like the Major Leagues where bravado dominates the sound bites from managers and athletes, the Boston Red Sox pitcher stands apart with his halting speech and tentative demeanor, even when speaking in his native Japanese.

During a spring training match his rookie year, Mihashi lit social networking sites alight when he threw a no-hitter against the unsuspecting NY Mets. Red Sox fans feverishly tweeted about the rookie and his complete dominance in real time, cementing his early reputation in 140 characters. But Mihashi refused to speak at the spontaneously formed press conference afterwards, so wracked was he with social anxiety and stuttering.

"I would've been a lot more shy if I didn't get into sports.” Mihashi explains. He is en route to Logan International airport for the first vacation he's had in two years. "Public speaking has always been a struggle."

His less than stellar communication skills haven’t hurt his popularity at all. Two years into his professional career, Bostonites have embraced the Saitama-born player with a passion that only rivals the fierceness his fans exhibit back home, where he is the face--and the arm--of everything from cars to energy drinks.

-

 _Hanai tells him over the phone, "You don't have to do this."_

 _But he waits for Tajima and him at the airport anyway, drives them both back to Saitama. Mihashi looks out of the window from the backseat, tuning out the Hanai and Tajima's easy banter. He can't join in even when they talk to him semi-anxiously, afraid they'd hear the heart thundering in his chest like a hammer._

 _Six years and thousands of miles later, Mihashi thinks nothing can still compare to Japan at springtime._

-

Mihashi is not simply riding the decade-long wave of Japanese transplants doing spectacularly in the MLBs. He was also the recipient of his own personal legend when he pitched on the hallowed soil of Japan's Koushien Tournament in the summer of 2011.

It was all thanks to a shot by legendary photojournalist Lisa Ferris-Honda. Taken during the rainy final match of Mihashi's Nishiura High against Musashino Dai Ichi, the photograph captures seventeen-year-old Mihashi crouching by the sidelines, his dirt-stained face crumpled in anguish as the blurred faces of his teammates shouted at him in the background.

The other half of the foreground image--equally iconic--is Mihashi's battery partner Takaya Abe, 16. The leg injury that had plagued him in his three years of high school baseball finally inflicted its final blow at the bottom of the 8th inning. The look of stoic resignation in Abe’s face as he touched Mihashi's bowed head resonated with the millions of Japanese fans who consider the Koushien Tournament as a brief, blinding moment of sports glory.

The photo ranked among Time Magazine's most gripping shots that year and remains as one of the most recognizable moments in recent Koushien history. (See Time's 'Top Images of 2011')

-

 _He's running a steadily growing consulting firm, they tell him. Universities and professional baseball teams look to him to spot the most promising young athletes in high school. He has a good eye for potential, they say, can spot diamonds in the rough by instinct. When he and Izumi started the company just before finishing college, nobody in their circle of friends even doubted that they were going to succeed._

 _Mihashi looks at Abe in his immaculately pressed suit, the easy way he holds a lit cigarette between his fingers and he knows they're so far away from each other. It has nothing to do with with distance or age or reputation. He forces himself to walk forward and sit across the table from Abe._

-

The summer dream ended for young Abe, but Mihashi went on to help Nishiura win their first championship by shutting out Mushashino in the last two innings. His meteoric rise never stopped since--he was quickly snapped up by UCLA the next year and went on to debut in the MLBs four years later.

Fellow transplant and former high school classmate, the Mariners' rookie batter Yuuichi Tajima shares that landmark game with him, but it's Ren Mihashi's face that reached households around the world that year.

"Many people in Japan still think of Ren as that high school boy crying in the rain, even when they’ve watched every game he’s ever played as an adult," says Tajima. He remains close to his childhood friend despite working for teams at opposite sides of the continent.

"It's funny, my relatives still ask me if he's eating well."

-

 _There's something in the way that Abe doesn't look him in the eye, keeps his eye tacked on the space somewhere above Mihashi's shoulder. Abe asks, "You've been in Japan for three days and you only thought about talking to me now?"_

 _"I kn-know," his breath hitches, could feel the beginning of a stutter he thought he has overcome. Mihashi closes his eyes and pauses, replaying speech exercises in his head. He is determined to push through and a say his piece. "I know I don't have the right to--to ask favors from you anymore. Thank you for agreeing meet with me."_

-

Despite all the mythmaking in his relatively short career, Mihashi remains a paradoxical figure, the most unace-like of aces. He doesn't have the electric personality of a Yuu Darvish or even the earnest friendliness of a young Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Battery partners from high school onwards swear he had always pitched like a dream, akin to a zen archer in his unerring ability to drive at any imaginary point above the home plate. Off the field, it is as if a switch turns off within him. He becomes awkward, all elbows and overlong limbs.

Still, Red Sox manager Toby Molina describes Mihashi as 'one of the most solid players on the team.' (Read Time Magazine's story 'Building a dynasty of pitchers')

"Many consider pitchers as the most fragile of all the players," he continues. "But that's definitely not the case with him. He's quite skinny, the kid, but he always seems to bend under pressure just enough not to break, you know?"

Mihashi himself has developed his own brand of fatalism regarding his personality clashing with his role within the diamond. "You can't be a pitcher without knowing in your heart that people will always be looking at you."

-

-

His extended vacation to Japan this winter is the first he has taken since his transfer to the Red Sox. It also signals Mihashi's attempt to make it into the Japanese national team in time for the next World Baseball Classic.

When asked why he had only recently decided to play for his country in an international platform, he replies with typical modesty. "I wanted to know for myself if I was a good enough player to perform with the best that the Japanese team has to offer."

His desire to play for his country comes at a time when the Japanese team is still feeling the loss of Yuu Darvish after his retirement from international competition. The current roster is also suffering from a string of injuries.

"I hope they can accept me and my contributions despite all my flaws."

-

-

A bigger presence in his home country may result to Mihashi becoming more of a press magnet in years to come. He may already be a baseball star Stateside but his homecoming, according to the rapt anticipation of the Japanese media, is poised to turn him into a supernova.

When asked if he fears that his popularity is turning into more of a burden to him than a blessing, however, Mihashi answers with an emphatic no. "I owe baseball many things. It gave me something to come home to."

**Author's Note:**

> This took an entirely different turn from your prompts, so I hope you weren't disappointed, Mishy_p! Weird format is weird so I may put additional notes after the reveal to discuss my details.


End file.
